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Reprinted from The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social 

Science, Philadelphia, July, 1917. 

Publication No. 1131. 



THE UNITED STATES AND THE WAR 

By Samuel T. Dutton, LL.D., 

New York. 

For nearly one Hundred and fifty years we have been engaged 
in building a nation. At the bottom of all our endeavors there was 
a religious spirit and we have developed a tradition for honesty and 
fair dealing. We fought for liberty and for the preservation of the 
Union. As we review the history of those conflicts our conscience 
is clear. Great benefits have come to the world because liberty and 
union have triumphed on this continent. Other occasions where we 
have taken up arms we do not review with the same complacency. 
Our territory is vast and full of potential wealth and no longer can 
we say of different sections of our domain that the inhabitants are 
English or Dutch or Spanish. America is the home of all peoples 
and our large cities are more cosmopolitan then were ancient Rome 
or Byzantium. Of some countries it may be said that there are 
more of their people in America than in the home land. 

Never before has there been in any land such assimilation of 
diverse elements. The public school has done its full part and 
freedom of opportunity has done the rest. A great experiment in 
democracy has been successfully tried and we are one in spirit and 
purpose if not in blood. Witness how the people have responded to 
the President's call. Party lines have vanished. Democrats, 
Republicans, Socialists and Suffragists are all of one mind. There 
is a discordant element and it has made much noise but has prob- 
ably done no serious harm. From the north, the south, the east 
and the west is heard the voice of patriotism and better than that 
is the calm and steady readiness of the people to do their full part 
in the great struggle. America with her forty-eight states and her 
wonderful variety in climate, relief and population is not hetero- 
geneous as regards national character and ideals. 

Her relation to the great conflict will be one of both cause and 
effect thinking of national self-consciousness and solidarity. War 
is a terrible curse but it has this virtue: that when the cause is a 

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2 The Annals of the American Academy 

righteous one it unites all factions, promotes comradeship and 
draws into a common brotherhood persons differing widely in 
belief, rank, creed and vocation. 

And what, let us ask, is the justification which impels a peace 
loving people to plunge into a struggle the most terrible the world 
has known? The answer is found partly in the political principles 
underlying our common welfare and partly in the constituent 
elements which make up our population. To put it bluntly we are 
friends of the Allies either through kinship or political belief, or else 
because of the outrages committed by the enemies of mankind. 

This is no ordinary war. The issues at stake are profound. It 
is evident that there can be no safety for free institutions, much 
less for lasting peace, unless this hydra headed monster of militarism 
is destroyed. Here then is one most important relation which 
America bears to the war. It is that of a nation desiring world 
peace summoned by the voice of honor and humanity to join other 
peace loving nations in suppressing a gigantic evil. 

Another relation of America to the war is that of our relative 
unpreparedness. In the eyes of many this is to be deplored and some 
have thought it to be a national crime. I cannot agree with that 
point of view. If Great Britain and France had been prepared as 
Germany was it would have been difficult to say who caused the 
war. France was only moderately prepared and did not wish the 
war. Russia wished to avoid it. The communications of Sir Ed- 
ward Grey to the Central Powers during the few days preceding 
the war show conclusively that Great Britain earnestly sought to 
prevent the war. The preparedness of this country as compared 
with that of Germany was far below the requirements of the modern 
war. Ten years ago Colonel Roosevelt as President was clamoring 
for six battleships per annum. Some of us pacifists (the term pacifist 
was then in less disrepute than at present) thought that two were 
enough. We deprecated having our government act as though it 
were preparing to fight Japan. I now thank God that we built 
battleships only moderately. We have far less old junk on hand 
now and our friendship with Japan has been growing year by year 
in spite of Captain Hobson and the yellow press. Furthermore, 
ships built ten years ago would be of very little use now. Naval 
defense has been revolutionized by the present war and we do not 
know today what will be required two years hence or five years 



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^ J^ United States and the War 3 

hence. We do know that we will have to build a different type of 
ship from those demanded two or three years ago. Of the three 
hundred war vessels hsted in a recent journal many are out of date; 
like automobiles warships must be of 1917, 1918 and 1919. 

Our army has been too small, everybody knew it, but in pros- 
perous times it is hard to get enlisted men. I wish to say that while 
I beUeve there has been a lack of efficiency in the administration of 
the departments of war and navy, I am glad that we have thus far 
maintained the reputation of not fearing our neighbors and have 
not needed to heap up great armaments. Moreover, I believe that 
when this struggle has reached its logical conclusion we can then 
adapt a policy of greater moderation in expenditure for the enginery 
of war. 

Now that the great conflict has drawn us into its eddying cur- 
rents the whole nation must think and act in terms of war. Our 
young men must now be trained as rapidly as possible. The office, 
the factory and the university must all contribute their quota. 
Young women also will be needed as nurses and helpers. Vast 
stocks of arms, munitions and food are to be provided and trans- 
ported. Lessons of efficiency and economy are to be learned by all 
the people. There never was a more righteous cause for the issue 
affects the welfare and destiny of all living and of countless genera- 
tions yet unborn. God grant that when the war is over there may 
be an end of deportations, atrocities, outrages and cruelties such as 
have never blackened the pages of history. 

The great conflict is bound to disturb our economic balance. 
Some industries will be highly expanded, others will suffer. Sub- 
marine warfare is disturbing foreign trade and will no doubt bring 
enormous losses. There will be the greatest displacement of labor 
from one field to another both for men and women that the nation 
has ever seen. During the period when we were introducing labor 
saving machinery we saw the working out of this process. Then it 
was gradual; now it will be abrupt, dramatic and even tragic. So 
in entering the war we have to deal with problems of industry, com- 
merce and taxation such as have not vexed us before. Two great 
evils are impending. First, lavish expenditure by those suddenly 
made rich and the sudden collapse which is likely to follow the war 
when the account of the world's losses is made up. Nothing but 



4 The Annals of the American Academy 

some great calamity will waken the torpid minds of our people to 
the economic dangers which are wrapped up in such a world tragedy. 

Another relation is seen in the demand that the United States 
take a more active part in world politics and diplomacy. If this 
means that she is to become a military nation and help to maintain 
an armed peace, the idea is discredited by our history and ideals 
and should be resented by all loyal minds. If, however, it means 
that we are to join in a league of nations to establish international 
government founded upon justice, with equal rights for all states, 
using all sanctions such as public conscience and good-will, the 
sacredness of treaties and if necessary international police power, 
then America must play her full part. 

There seems to be another supreme reason for our action. 
While democracy has succeeded in the western hemisphere, there is 
reason to hope that all states in the eastern hemisphere may be 
transformed and uplifted under its benign influence. China is 
awaking to a new life. Schools and colleges, many of them inspired 
and supported by Americans, are models for a universal system of 
education and better material out of which to make self-governing 
citizens has never existed. Considering how many of her young 
leaders have been educated in the United States we may well take 
pride in China's progress. Then there is Russia. There are no 
words adequate to portray the things that are in store for that 
northern empire. It is the subtle spirit of democracy working 
silently year by year until the moment arrives for the nation's 
redemption. Surely America may well rejoice in the hope that the 
onward march of freedom may not be halted until all tyranny and 
oppression are relegated to the dark abyss from which they sprang. 
Here then is the most interesting of all of our relations to the great 
conflict, namely, our attitude to nations struggling for relief from 
the oppressor. Belgium, Poland, Serbia and Armenia all need our 
sympathy and our aid. As the President stated before Congress we 
have no ends to serve except those of humanity and democracy; 
but our relation to those impoverished and suffering states after 
the war should be close and salutary. America desires that all 
nations which have been deprived and defrauded of real freedom 
may in the crucible of war be refined and transmuted, and made 
fit to be members of the society of nations radiating the love of 
democracy and permanent peace. 



United States and the War 5 

There are countless bonds which in the past have bound the 
world together, educational, social, economic and scientific. Amer- 
ica is involved by all these whether she will or not. As during the 
war, she has poured out her wealth to feed and clothe innocent 
sufferers and has now taken her place as an ally of those who are 
fighting for freedom, so, after the war, she must continue her minis- 
trations until hunger, pain and distress shall have vanished from 
the earth. There is also the world of thought and aspiration, of 
sympathy and of high-minded altruism. These are to be quickened 
and enhanced by the war, and afterwards it is to be expected that 
all nations will be drawn more closely together than ever before, 
and will come to hold in higher appreciation the things of the spirit 
and the great verities which give to man a high place in the kingdom 
of God. 

What can America do to aid in establishing international 
government dedicated to durable peace? That is a great question 
and one will hesitate to give a categorical answer. I trust that 
whatever we undertake will be based upon the expectation of a 
new world order. There is considerable prospect for a federation 
of democracies when universal suffrage, justice and humanity will 
be great words in the international conference. President Wilson 
has been disposed to state principles rather than advocate specific 
measures or remedies. The League to Enforce Peace has done a 
good work in calling the attention of the people of this and other 
countries to the possibility of a concert of nations with pacific means 
of settling all differences. The name of the league is not happy and 
undue emphasis has been placed upon force as the most important 
factor. At present the United States is joining with the Allies in 
the enforcement of war. When the war is over it is to be hoped 
that the need of force will largely cease. Democratic nations will 
not wish to look each other in the face and say we will compel you 
to do this or that. The suffering, humiliation and sorrow of the 
war will so chasten the nations that moral forces will come to the 
front as never before in history. The World Court League, which 
accepts all the proposals of the other league except one, is basing 
its hope upon the establishment of an international court and 
other subsidiary institutions, as well as upon the increased power 
of public opinion in favor of such agencies. The same public opinion 
which has caused the overthrow of autocracy in Russia and is 



6 The Annals of the American Academy 

threatening to undermine the Prussian tradition, will be strongly- 
felt at every stage of the reconstruction period. The two leagues to 
which reference has been made and other organizations working 
for durable peace should not fail to hear the many voices in all parts 
of the world demanding that war should cease. There is good hope 
that an international executive may be developed and there must 
of course be a constabulary, or police force large enough to keep 
order and to represent the power and majesty of the united nations 
of the earth. And there will be no more suggestion of war in this 
than there is in the existence of municipal or state police. The 
United States will perform one of her greatest services to the world 
in helping to work out this beneficent plan. She may well take the 
lead in establishing a league of nations based upon justice and con- 
ciliation. 

So we may say in conclusion that the relation of America to the 
great conflict is one of understanding and appreciation. Joining in 
the war she expects to suffer, but her suffering and her losses will 
bring her into closer sympathy and fellowship with other peoples 
who in blood and in tears are battling for the welfare of mankind. 
All other relationships to the war seem less important than this. To 
have a share in freeing the world of oppression and cruelty is an 
undertaking worthy of America. With malice toward none and with 
good-will to all, we may see to it that in every land the principles of 
democracy and humanity are dominant. As our President has 
pointed out: we have no ends to serve but the good of mankind, 
but, if the adventure is successful, America will have a commanding 
influence and will rejoice eternally in having done her part. 



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